Gianficaro: True to form, Donald Trump believes the accused, not the accuser in sexual assault claim

Phil Gianficaro Columnist @philgianficaro

Friday

Oct 5, 2018 at 5:00 AM

Shocked when Donald Trump mocked the testimony of a woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault? Then you haven't been paying attention.

What, you expected something different from him? Compassion, perhaps? Outrage over the alleged heinous crime? A scintilla of genuine concern for the woman? A empathetic heart?

You did? Shame on you.

Donald Trump spoke at a campaign rally in Mississippi on Tuesday and viciously mocked the Senate testimony of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, who alleges Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh — Trump’s guy — sexually assaulted her when they were teenagers in the summer of 1982. Trump did what Trump does: Serve the man in the mirror. When the mosquito lands, expect him to bite.

Trump desperately wants Kavanaugh confirmed and will stop at nothing to get him there, even publicly mocking a woman who accuses Kavanaugh of having pinned her on a bed, attempted to remove her clothes, and covered her mouth so she wouldn’t scream.

“How did you get home? I don’t remember,” an animated Trump told the partisan crowd, mimicking Ford to cast doubt on her testimony. “How’d you get there? I don’t remember. Where is the place? I don’t remember. How many years ago was it? I don’t know.”

Trump's comments were met with laughter and applause from the crowd.

“I don’t know, I don’t know,” Trump continued. “What neighborhood was it in? I don’t know. Where’s the house? I don’t know. Upstairs, downstairs, where was it? I don’t know. But I had one beer. That’s the only thing I remember.”

Which, of course, is a lie. Ford remembered plenty. But for Trump to publicly acknowledge her recall is to disappoint the man in the mirror. So he defends his guy. But then Trump always defends the accused: Rob Porter, accused of spousal abuse with two wives, and Roy Moore, accused of sexual misconduct with teenagers when he was in his 30s, and now Kavanaugh in the most despicable way possible. Want to know why two-thirds of all sexual assaults against women go unreported? Here's your answer.

Trump himself was accused by 15 women of sexual harassment/assault/behavior during the presidential campaign. He denies everything, as do the aforementioned. Deny, deny, deny. Never admit. The woman is always wrong. Serve the man in the mirror. A constituency of one.

“The president could have taken the high road about Dr. Ford, even if he didn’t believe her,” said Patty Lee Granger, of Doylestown Township. “Watching him make fun of her the other day was sickening. And I voted for him.”

I asked Granger if she would vote for him again. She shrugged.

"I don't know," she said. "Let's see what happens (with the Ford accusation). Maybe she's lying. He (Trump) thinks she is. I don't like how he said it, but maybe he's right."

There are Trump’s insults of the late John McCain: "He’s not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”

There is Trump’s belittling of that Gold Star family who denounced Trump’s planned ban of Muslims entering the U.S.

There is Trump’s ridiculing of a journalist with a physical disability.

There is Trump’s multiple Tweets attacking the wife of Sen. Ted Cruz, who also sought the GOP presidential nomination in 2016.

There is Trump mocking Sen. Elizabeth Warren by calling her Pocahontas.

There is Trump believing Russian President Vladmir Putin over US intelligence agencies, which uncovered evidence Russia subverted the 2016 presidential election.

There is Trump suggesting that if Ivanka weren’t his daughter, he’d be dating her.

And now there is Trump mocking a woman’s claim of sexual assault. Just when you are certain Trump has reached rock bottom, the jackhammers commence.

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